A man described as an iron-fisted sadist received a 30-year prison sentence on Friday for aggravated criminal damage after ramming the back of his ex-wife's car with his pickup in 2006, dragging her from the badly damaged vehicle and beating her briefly until bystanders intervened.

Ghazir 'Gus' Lacayo

Ghazir "Gus" Lacayo of Slidell, who claimed he was God's messenger and therefore above man's laws, had a history of torturing and terrorizing his ex-wife, Stephanie Lacayo, now 42, and their son, now 13, according to the victim's impact statements she gave on Aug. 6, one for herself and one she read from their son.

Stephanie Lacayo described a living hell, more than a decade of absolute physical, verbal and emotional abuse to both her and their son. A few months before he floored his accelerator, smashing the trunk of Stephanie Lacayo's Volvo all the way to the back window, she had found the strength to leave him, she said

She had obtained a restraining order prohibiting her ex-husband from contacting her after their divorce a few months earlier, according to her and court records

His torture throughout their marriage had been intentional, deliberate and thought out. She described not only how he had cloaked her and their son in seemingly impenetrable states of fear, but also the meticulous nature of his abuse.

In addition to regular beatings, verbal threats and general degradation, he would make sure she never slept a wink for nights on end, forcing her to sit on the living-room sofa, where he would randomly check on her throughout the nights, torturing her if she slept.

Sentencing Lacayo on Friday afternoon, state Judge William J. "Will" Crain stated that Lacayo had "tormented and terrorized the victims in this case," and that the actions described by his ex-wife in her victim's impact statement given a few months earlier were "disturbing," showed "deliberate cruelty" and "by the grace of God did not result in her death."

Crain also noted Lacayo's "stubborn refusal to try to conform even to the rules of the court."

Lacayo, 39, stated in court on Friday, "You will only meet a few people like me."

"I have the authority to use God's power," he continued. "I was created in (God's) image, in his likeness... you will see, I am going to get my freedom."

His ex-wife never pursued any charges against him for the alleged abuses during their marriage. She said she was too scared for life and hoped that divorcing him and obtaining a restraining order against him might be enough.

Lacayo originally was booked by Slidell police with attempted second-degree murder for the car ramming in 2006, but the district attorney's office eventually downgraded that charge, in part because his ex-wife only had cuts and bruises from the car crash and subsequent beating, and received no medical treatment, according to the office.

Shortly after 11 p.m. on June 21, 2006, she had just pulled into a parking space outside Daiquiri & Company at 1326 Gause Blvd., when she looked in the rear-view mirror and noticed an approaching black pickup that looked like her ex-husband's Ford F-250.

After smashing into her Volvo, Lacayo got out of his truck and dove through the shattered driver's-side front window of his ex-wife's car, pulled her out and then began beating her, authorities said. Several bar customers pulled him off of her and restrained him until police arrived, authorities said.

Aggravated criminal damage to property is the intentional damaging of any structure, watercraft or movable wherein it is foreseeable that human life might be endangered, according to state law.

It carries a maximum of 15 years and a $10,000 fine. But because Lacayo has a 1992 aggravated battery conviction for a local bar fight, the district attorney's office was able to successfully label him a habitual offender on Thursday, which increased his maximum sentence to 30 years.

Aggravated criminal damage carries a higher potential sentence than aggravated battery, which carries a maximum of 10 years behind bars.